Dear All,
Whether one speaks about the constellation or not, I think the most important
thing is to be in good contact with the process of the client. Matthias Varga
von Kibéd spoke about how the sides of the brain for language and images are
different. Some clients are very involved in the image, others need more
cognitive understanding to help the mind quiet and be more available for the
images and emotions which come up in a constellation. If the facilitator has
good rapport with the client it will be apparent if talking is appropriate or
not - and when.
All the best,
Thomas Bryson
For me I think it is important to NOT talk about the constellation too soon
(and much of my reflection comes from my Holotropic Breathwork training and
working with clients in non-ordinary states of consciousness)
I see talking about the constellation too soon after the constellation,
particularly as it concerns analysis and moving from the body to the head. As
clients shift to the mental realm they lose the feeling (in their bodies) of
the constellation. I think this is a great loss. I believe that this felt
sense is super-important to integrate.
It seems to me that one of the biggest reasons we bring a focus client into
the field towards the end of their constellation is so that they can feel and
absorb this energetic imprint. I think it would be a shame if they lost this
felt-imprint too soon.
I see no reason not to talk about/share about experiences once their
energetic feeling has subsided as long as it is not picked apart too much
through critical analysis. I also find that many times representatives have
important insights that it can be helpful to share. I offer that the
representatives wait 2 days before sharing with the focus clients.
One of the things I do as I lead workshops to support my focus clients in
having the best integration experience is to have them leave the room for the
following constellation. So that they are not chosen as reps, do not get
involved emotionally or intellectually in the next constellation and so that
they can stay with their experience as long as possible, to write, reflect,
do a mandala, etc. I am offering this more consistently now. (I provide art
supplies)
Again much of my awareness around this comes from my 2-year Holotropic
Breathwork training. I want to give credit to their integration structures.
Much love, Jack
From: "Heiki Eesmaa heiki.eesmaa@xxxxxxxxx [ConstellationTalk]"
<ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2014 12:03 PM
Subject: Re: [ConstellationTalk] Talking about your Constellation:
Superstition?
"Don't talk about your constellation" - it does seem to me a practical
injunction against dissipating what was lived through in an altered state of
consciousness. Specifically, even though the representatives are within the
gross realm, what opens up is the subtle realm (compare assumption of
godforms in ceremonial magic). The subtle realm is worked through with
images, taking them as they are, without verbalizing or mentalizing what they
are. A good summary of this is in John Rowan's book The Transpersonal, p 125
et seq
(http://books.google.ee/books?id=oZBmAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA108&ots=C0iskVPahN&dq=john%20rowan%20subtle&pg=PA125#v=onepage&q=john%20rowan%20subtle&f=false)
There may be a superstition attached to this principle also besides its
practical importance. That can be processed and done away with via favorite
technique of emotional processing.
Interested in discussing this further.
best regards
Heiki
On Wed, Jul 30, 2014 at 12:28 PM, Alison Fornes maitreya71@xxxxxxxxx
[ConstellationTalk] <ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi All,
(Note - SKIP TO "Here are my questions" if you just want to skim this email.)
I am recently returned from the 7th North American Systemic Constellations
Intensive, which I had the privilege of directing this year. I feel the
expansiveness in my heart as I think about it! It was wonderful. Thanks to
the faculty: Francesca Mason Boring, Dan Booth Cohen, Ed Lynch and Bill
Mannle! And to all who attended and co-created such a beautiful, sacred space.
My wondering comes out of a Constellation I asked for in my group on the last
day. It was not a personal Constellation in the usual sense, and it wasn't
clearly resolved because we didn't have time.
A few people from that group have reached out to me, and I noticed my
hesitance in talking about it too much. However, the hesitance feels more
like my response to the "rule" that we shouldn't talk about our
Constellations. And so I'm left wondering about the evidence for that
restriction. Or if perhaps I have been misinterpreting, in which case,
perhaps I'm not the only one?
HERE ARE MY QUESTIONS / thoughts:
1. We acknowledge that our day-to-day, personal consciousness is not the main
driver of our lives. Constellations clearly reveal that aspects of our deeper
systemic consciousness manifest through _symptoms_ in our personal
consciousness but are usually not seen for what they are in terms of
ancestral roots of trauma, etc. AND even if we do have a sense of their
ancestral roots, talking about it doesn't seem to resolve it. This is shown
by the experience of very slow process of talk therapy, vs. the much shorter
and incredibly effective Constellation healing. So one might say in this
case: talking has very little effect on the larger field.
The one place talk therapy is recognized as effective, though, is when the
talk hits on the deeper roots of an issue. Then we can feel in our bodies, as
in the Focusing work of Eugene Gendlin, that something has resonated and
moved.
2. I also have started engaging in dream work, especially the practice of
"Lightning Dream Work" described by Robert Moss. In this process, once the
dream is presented to a group, participants respond to it with the statement
"If this were my dream..." and they give their thoughts as if it were
LITERALLY their dream. It's quite a special process, as it reveals multiple
facets of what's in the larger field of that dream. The dreamer can then take
what's relevant to them, and is often shown new things they had never
considered. That information, provided not just through the experiencing of
the dream but also through the elucidation of the dream using words, is quite
valuable. Again, it feels like it has the effect of moving something resonant
from the wordless Field into our personal consciousness, which can be very
healing.
The "If this were my dream" has started moving into my Constellation work,
and now when I experience a Constellation that is not mine, there are times
when I talk about it using that language, especially if the seeker is
confused by the Constellation.
Silence vs. Words -
3. On the other hand, there is a clear place for silence. The profound,
sacred beauty of a Constellation often creates its own silence, naturally.
It's a silence that emerges from the movement in the Field. You can also feel
how, if you try to tell someone of the experience, there's a way it can feel
like profanity, as in irreverence or desecration. That contrast between
silence and words makes sense to me in the context of Constellation work.
4. Finally, there is the way I have interpreted / misinterpreted the idea
"don't talk about your constellation" - this is where the superstition part
comes in. I have had the idea (where did it come from?) that talking about
your constellation in the wrong way can somehow undo the healing of the
Constellation. I am noticing that I feel that in my body as an actual fear.
Is that idea in the larger field? Where did it come from? Is it true? Is
there evidence for such a thing.
My thoughts right now are that I have direct experience that shows me that 1,
2, and 3 are true, and my conclusions are that talk can get in the way of the
"sacred silence" that emerges from a powerful Constellation, but not the
healing movement itself.
Alison Fornés
It is the courageous heart that loves. It is the loving heart that heals.
alisonfornes.com
